The Ultimate Brunch Burger — Brunchographers

My boyfriend claims he invented the brunch burger.

Long before I was following the LA brunch scene, instagramming my meals, or geeking out over my favorite chefs, he was just a high school kid combining a bunch of ingredients he liked between 2 pieces of bread. After a long day at school, he would grill up beef patties, and layer a bun with a burger, frozen hash browns, a fried egg and some mayo with cracked black pepper. (Side note-- how impressive is it that he was crafting this meal in high school? I'm lucky to have such a good cook in my house!). This was a meal he loved and loved to make. Nowadays, we see similar versions on every great brunch menu around town. Okay, maybe some restaurants have been serving up brunch burgers for years, but we like to think he created it in his Southbay kitchen.

So when I started brainstorming brunch recipes, I turned to the people closest to me, and my boyfriend's story served as inspiration. We crafted this recipe together, after much testing in our small kitchen, and we were both very happy with the final results. It might have a few more ingredients than that original version and is certainly made with a bit more skill, but it still has the heart of his old meal and provides the same comfort.

Ingredients

2/3 lb ground beef (we recommend 80/20 for this recipe)
2 buns (choose something hearty that will stand up to a big burger)
2 eggs
1 russet potato
2-4 slices cheddar cheese
1 cup arugula
3 T mayonaise
1 T sriracha
1/2 T honey
Canola oil or other oil with high smoke point
1 T butter
salt and pepper

Method

To make the sauce, mix together mayonnaise, sriracha, honey and fresh cracked pepper in a bowl and set aside in the fridge.
Prep the hash browns. Peel and grate potato. Place grated potatoes in a tea towel or cheese cloth and ring out the excess water. Microwave drained potatoes for 1 minute. Season potatoes with salt and pepper.
Prep the burger patties. Divide ground beef into 2 chunks and form 2 wide and flat patties. Burgers will shrink up when cooked. Season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides.
Heat up 1-2 tbsp oil in a pan. Drop about 2 Tbsp. of the potatoes in the heated oil and fry for 2 minutes on each side until golden. Set aside on a paper towel to absorb some excess oil.
Using the hot pan from the potatoes, cook 4 slices of bacon 3-5 minutes on each side until cooked through and slightly crispy.
Heat up a grill pan with some oil and place burgers on pan when hot. Cook about 2 minutes on each side for medium doneness. Once cooked, take burgers off pan and top with 1-2 slices cheese and cover to melt. We place them in the microwave since we don't have a lot of space!
Carefully wipe any brown bits out of the first pan and discard. Add 1 tbsp butter and bring to medium-low/medium heat. One at a time, crack 2 eggs into a ramekin and add to pan. Cover pan and cook for about 2 minutes until egg whites are set, but yolk is still running.
Toast bun if desired.
Put it all together! Start at the bottom with the sriracha mayo, then a bunch of arugula, then the burger with cheese, hash brown, 2 slices of bacon in a criss cross, fried egg, and a little more sriracha mayo and the top bun. Enjoy!

Makes 2 burgers. Prep/Cook time ~ 45 minutes.